Techniques for managing shortcut storage

1. A computer implemented method for managing shortcut storage comprising: identifying a shortcut in data storage, wherein the shortcut is a computer navigable reference to archived data; determining, using at least one computer processor, whether at least one attribute associated with the shortcut meets a specified criteria; and modifying the shortcut in the event that the at least one attribute meets the specified criteria, wherein modification of the shortcut comprises managing a storage size of the shortcut based on the determination, wherein modification of the shortcut also comprises restoring one or more portions of the shortcut from the archived data into the shortcut in data storage, wherein restoring one or more portions of the shortcut comprises restoring into the shortcut one or more portions of an archived item referenced by the shortcut, and wherein an amount of data restored to the shortcut depends on at least one of a type of access to an item referenced by the shortcut and an amount of access to the shortcut.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute associated with the shortcut comprises a date associated with the shortcut.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the date comprises at least one of: a date the shortcut was created, a date the shortcut was last accessed, and a date data referenced by the shortcut was accessed.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the specified criteria comprises a specified age.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the shortcut in the event that the at least one attribute meets the specified criteria comprises removing one or more portions of the shortcut.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more portions comprises at least one of: a portion of a message header associated with a shortcut and a portion of a message body associated with a shortcut.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the shortcut in the event that the at least one attribute meets the specified criteria comprises deleting a portion of a shortcut referencing a file.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the at least one attribute associated with the shortcut meets one or more additional criteria.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the additional criteria specify two or more ranges of ages.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 , wherein modifying the shortcut comprises: a first modification to the shortcut in the event a date associated with a shortcut is in a first range of ages; and a second modification to the shortcut in the event the date associated with the shortcut is in a second range of ages.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute associated with the shortcut includes a date associated with the shortcut and an identifier associated with one or more of: a user who last accessed the shortcut, a user who last accessed data represented by the shortcut, a user who created data referenced by shortcut, a group which last accessed the shortcut, a group which last accessed data associated with the shortcut, and a group who created data referenced by the shortcut.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 , wherein determining whether at least one attribute associated with the shortcut meets a specified criteria is based at least in part on the identifier.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a policy to apply, wherein the policy determines the specified criteria.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the policy is identified based at least in part on one or more of: a user identifier associated with the data storage, a group identifier associated with the data storage, an amount of data storage available, and an amount of data storage utilized by shortcuts.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data storage is associated with at least one of an email system and a file system.

16. At least one processor readable medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor for instructing the at least one processor to execute a computer process for performing the method as recited in claim 1 .

17. An article of manufacture for managing shortcut storage, the article of manufacture comprising: at least one non-transitory processor readable storage medium; and instructions carried on the at least one medium; wherein the instructions are configured to be readable from the at least one medium by at least one processor and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate so as to: identify a shortcut in data storage, wherein the shortcut is a computer navigable reference to archived data; determine whether at least one attribute associated with the shortcut meets a specified criteria; and modify the shortcut in the event that the at least one attribute meets the specified criteria, wherein modification of the shortcut comprises managing a storage size of the shortcut based on the determination, wherein modification of the shortcut also comprises restoring one or more portions of the shortcut from the archived data into the shortcut in data storage, wherein restoring one or more portions of the shortcut comprises restoring into the shortcut one or more portions of an archived item referenced by the shortcut, and wherein an amount of data restored to the shortcut depends on at least one of a type of access to an item referenced by the shortcut and an amount of access to the shortcut.

18. A system for managing shortcut storage comprising: one or more processors communicatively coupled to a network; wherein the one or more processors are configured to: identify a shortcut in data storage, wherein the shortcut is a computer navigable reference to archived data; determine whether at least one attribute associated with the shortcut meets a specified criteria; and modify the shortcut in the event that the at least one attribute meets the specified criteria, wherein modification of the shortcut comprises managing a storage size of the shortcut based on the determination, wherein modification of the shortcut also comprises restoring one or more portions of the shortcut from the archived data into the shortcut in data storage, wherein restoring one or more portions of the shortcut comprises restoring into the shortcut one or more portions of an archived item referenced by the shortcut, and wherein an amount of data restored to the shortcut depends on at least one of a type of access to an item referenced by the shortcut and an amount of access to the shortcut.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the amount of data restored to the shortcut depends on at least one of: a user who last accessed the shortcut, a user who last accessed data represented by the shortcut, a user who created data referenced by the shortcut, a group which last accessed the shortcut, a group which last accessed data associated with the shortcut, and a group who created data referenced by the shortcut.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein type of access to the item referenced by the shortcut comprises at least one of: retrieving the item referenced by the shortcut and viewing information currently associated with the shortcut.